Entries tagged with: Wisdom in Chains

The previously-mentioned annual NYC hardcore festival Black N' Blue Bowl takes place on May 16 & 17 at Webster Hall this year, and now the complete lineup and ticket info has been revealed. The Regulators (aka Darryl Jenifer and Dr. Know of Bad Brains and John Joseph and Mackie Jayson of Cro-Mags), The Wilding Incident (featuring Lord Ezec on vocals, Jimmy Williams of Maximum Penalty on drums and Sacha Jenkins on guitar), and Earth Crisis join a lineup that already included Crumbsuckers, Madball, Sick of It All, The Rival Mob, Dave Smalley (playing Dag Nasty, ALL, and Down By Law songs), and more. Full lineup below and on the flyer above.

Two-day passes are on sale HERE, and you can get single day passes for Saturday HERE and Sunday HERE. You can also purchase tickets in person from NYHC Tattoos (127 Stanton St), Generation Records (210 Thompson St), and Lotus Tattoos (291 W Main St).

The Regulators last played NYC in September at Bowery Electric (that time just as "Regulator"). Watch a video from that show, with the updated BNBB lineup, below...

Like New York City contemporaries such as Agnostic Front and the Cro-Mags, the Crumbsuckers were one of the original purveyors of 1980s crossover: the bridging of metal and hardcore that temporarily united the two divergent tribes of metalheads and punks into one bloody unified mosh pit. Getting their start in 1983, the band were soon an integral part of New York's Lower East Side-based hardcore scene, cutting their teeth at the legendary dive A7 before moving on to CBGB's famed Sunday matinees, as they and the movement gained strength. [Allmusic]

Since we last spoke, more bands were added to BNB Bowl, including Candiria, Madball, Dave Smalley (performing Dag Nasty, Down By Law and All Songs), The Rival Mob, Fury of Five, Devil In Me and Booze & Glory. They join other previously-announced bands such as Sick Of It All (who also play NateFest). Ticket info still TBA. Updated lineup below.

In related news, Richmond, VA's United Blood Fest was announced for March 27 & 28, the weekend after NateFest. It happens at The Canal Club with Judge and Breakdown (who both played BNB Bowl 2013), plus Code Orange, Cold World, Terror, Rotting Out, Give, God's Hate, Heavy Chains and more. Full lineup below. Breakdown's only other announced show at the moment is opening night 1 of No Warning's reunion shows in NJ.

As discussed, the New England Hardcore and Metal Festival is returning to Worcester, MA from April 17-19, and since we last spoke more acts have been announced. Code Orange, The Atlas Moth, The Red Chord, Rivers of Nihil, Suburban Scum, Rude Awakening, Cruel Hand, Rotting Out, God's Hate and more were added to the lineup that already included Testament, Between the Buried and Me, Exodus, Nails, Nuclear Assault and more. Tickets are still availble.

Annual NYC hardcore fest Black N' Blue Bowl is returning in 2015 on May 16 and 17 at Webster Hall, and the initial lineup is announced. It includes NYHC veterans Sick of It All, as well as Turnstile, Agents of Man, Wisdom In Chains, Suburban Scum, Heavy Chains, Mizery, 100 Demons, Bitter End, Crumbsuckers, Expire, Freedom, King Nine and Rude Awakening. More bands will be announced Wednesday (1/7), so stay tuned for that and ticket info.

A couple of stacked east-coast hardcore/metal festivals have recently announced their lineups. First up, Damaged City Fest will take place in Washington D.C. from April 10-12. It will feature UK-based The Mob, Canada's Career Suicide, DC's Coke Bust, PA's Hounds of Hate, NJ's Razorheads, and NY-based Warthog and Ajax, among many others. Those last few bands, along with DC's Red Death, who will also be making an appearance, were featured in our hardcore roundup last week. Ticket info and more bands TBA. Full initial lineup below.

The following weekend, Worcester, MA will play host to the more metal-centric New England Hardcore and Metal Festival on April 17-19. The lineup is pretty huge, with classic thrash like Testament, Exodus and Nuclear Assault joining more current popular bands like Between the Buried and Me and more exciting underground acts like Nails, Wisdom in Chains and Homewrecker. Tickets are available now in either three-day packages or for individual days.

Saturday October 4 marked my 14 year anniversary of living in this overpriced hellhole we call New York City. In honor of yours truly and this personal milestone, New York City hardcore veterans Sick of it All headlined a sick quadruple bill at a very packed Irving Plaza. At least, I pretended the show was happening in my honor because I am a sociopath. In reality, the show, which also featured White Collar Crime LLC, Wisdom in Chains, and fellow NYHC vets H2O, was actually a record release party for Sick of it All's newest crusher Last Act of Defiance which came out on September 30, 2014. The evening was DJed by the great Gibby Haynes who spun everything from punk, to garage, to noise, to Steve Miller's 'Abracadabra'.

For once in my life, I got to the show before the first band White Collar Crime LLC hit the stage and I am glad I did. From start to finish this show was a relentless display of truly great hardcore without a single weak spot in the entire line-up. Though their set clocked in at under 30 minutes, White Collar Crime LLC were terrific and a bit of a departure from what one might expect from a NYHC show. Without the short-cropped hair often donned by members of the hardcore community, these four long-haired mofos unleashed a sound that was a fantastic mix of old school thrash and straight-up hardcore. Though their music had an extreme anti-establishment, anti-religion, anti-corporate-Disnification of America vibe, there was a certain level of humor inherent in the lyrics and the stage banter. Hardcore icon and renowned vegan John Joseph from the Cro Mags joined the band for a song called "FroYo." At this point in my life I am not actively seeking out new hardcore, but I am so glad I got to the show early and caught White Collar's set. They were super fun and intense, but had a sound that could fit bills beyond your standard hardcore.

The next band up was Wisdom in Chains and they had a sound much more typical for this sort of hardcore bill. Hailing from Northeastern Pennsylvania, Wisdom in Chains really whipped the crowd into a frenzy and really set the momentum for the fist-pumping, singing along, and circle pitting that would be coursing through the venue for the remainder of the evening. For anyone into Warzone, Madball, Cro Mags, and Agnostic Front (basically everyone in the room), Wisdom really brought the stank. Front man Mad Joe Black is an absolute tank of a human being. Built like a brick shithouse and with pipes that give Sick of it All's Lou Koller a run for his money, Mad Joe owned the stage. However, during their set venue security really started to get out of hand. Although a barricade prevented stage diving, there was plenty of crowd surfing going on. Inevitably, some of the surfers drifted up to the barricade area. At one point I saw a security person grab a crowd surfer and slam him face first into the floor. A few minutes later, another security dude did the same thing to someone else. It was a gratuitous, unwarranted, unbridled and completely barbaric show of force and the guys in Wisdom in Chains rightfully called them out on it, even going as far as challenging the security personnel to throw down right then and there against them. Smartly, personnel declined the invitation to have their asses handed to them and for the rest of the evening they were way more respectful to crowd surfers who drifted up to the barricade. Rather than pull them over and throw them to the ground, they changed tact completely and assisted barricade-bound crowd surfers to a soft and safe landing. Good on Wisdom in Chains for addressing the situation before it got out of hand; it was security personnel creating unsafe conditions, not concert goers. Beyond that, Wisdom in Chains destroyed. Crushing, aggressive, and heavy as hell. An absolutely unmissable act.

H2O's crowd

The next band up was New York hardcore icons H2O. Although this was a Sick of it All record release show, the inclusion of a band as great and as well respected as H2O made it feel like they were co-headlining as opposed to opening for SOIA. I thought the audience came alive during Wisdom in Chains.... However, H2O instantly whipped the room into a next-level frenzy that I have not seen at a show in ages. Their setlist was absolutely packed with crowd favorites, but classics like "Everready," "Family Tree," and "Guilty By Association" almost had an old pile of garbage like me in the pit throwing bones and singing along (almost). I have seen H2O many times since their inception almost 20 years ago, and each time they bring their A game. H2O is best experienced live. Trust me.

After a brief intermission it was time for the main event. Sick of it All have been doing their thing for nearly 30 years, and I cannot think of a single band in the genre (or any genre for that matter) who have been as consistent as SOIA, both in the studio and live. I have seen them dozens of times since the early '90s and I find it staggering that they are as heavy as ever and that Lou Koller's voice is as strong and as deafening as ever. In 1997 they released a record called Built To Last. I wonder if they realized how prescient that album title really was. From top to tail, SIOA gave a performance that never lost an ounce of intensity. Guitarist Pete Koller trains in Brazilian jiu jitsu which probably explains how he can, for an hour plus, jump 5 feet in the air, spin around, and run all over the stage non-stop without ever missing a note or dropping dead from exertion. He is a sight to behold. And although his brother, vocalist Lou Koller, has A LOT of help from the audience in the vocals department, that guy can scream as loud as ever. It is staggering. The cuts they played from their new album "Last Act of Defiance" were indistinguishable in terms of quality and bad assedness from their classic cuts. They closed the show with crushers "Scratch the Surface" and "Step Down" from 1994's Scratch the Surface album. There was no encore, but after the show they did hop down to the barricaded area and spend considerable time fist bumping and shaking hands with legions of fans. This was a show for the history books folks.

After saving This is Hardcore Fest by filling in, Agnostic Front sit atop the first round of announced bands at East Coast Tsunami Fest 2014. The initial lineup posted on Stereokiller not only includes the NYHCers, but bands such as Ignite, Sick of it All, Cro-Mags, and. . . Obituary. Makes sense when you think about it. Anyway, the fest takes place on September 26 through September 28 at Reverb in Reading, Pennsylvania. Ticket information will be announced soon. Full lineup below.

Agnostic Front and many other hardcore bands, including Bad Brains, Gorilla Biscuits, Bold, Born Against, Judge, Misfits, Murphy's Law, Quicksand, Rorschach, Sheer Terror, Sick of It All, Youth of Today and still more, have also been interviewed for the new book NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980-1990 that's coming out on Bazillion Points in November. The Tony Rettman-authored oral history takes on the formative decade and apparently goes pretty deep. According to Bazillion:

Tony Rettman's ambitious oral history captures ten years of struggle, including the scene's regional rivalries with D.C. and Boston, the birth of moshing, the clash and coming to terms of hardcore and heavy metal, the straightedge movement, and the unlikely influence of Krishna consciousness.

NYHC vets Sick Of It All have announced that they'll release their tenth album, The Last Act of Defiance, on September 30 (album art and tracklist below), and will play a hometown show soon after that on October 4 at Irving Plaza with fellow NYC punk vets H2O as well as Pennsylvania's Wisdom In Chains and White Collar Crime LLC. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Meanwhile, if you're headed to Philly (or already there) for This Is Hardcore (which began yesterday, 7/24), you can also catch Wisdom In Chains there on Saturday (7/26). A ton of other great bands have still yet to play too, like Converge, Blacklisted, Title Fight, CIV, Bold, Nails, Madball (with guest ex-guitarist Matt Henderson making a special appearance), Power Trip and plenty more. Remaining day-by-day lineups for TIH, below.

If you're not headed to This Is Hardcore, you can have your own mini TIH celebration in NYC this weekend. Xibalba, who played the PA fest last night, play a free show Saturday (7/26) at Brooklyn Night Bazaar with Harm's Way, The Banner and Crushed (Trap Them and Coliseum just played the same venue). And, as discussed, UK vets Subhumans are coming over for TIH and playing Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday (7/27) with long-running NYHC band Sheer Terror, as well as White Collar Crime LLC (fka White Collar Crime) and Mischief Brew. Tickets for that show are still available.

SOIA and Sheer Terror's fellow veteran New York hardcore band Cro-Mags also recently announced a tour, NYC show at Saint Vitus included, which just went on sale.

"They've been talking us down for so long, I almost started to believe them all."

Those are Madball singer Freddy Cricien's first unassisted words on new single "Doc Marten Stomp." He's not kidding about the "long" part. Freddy has fronted the NYHC DMS crew heavies since 1988. Back then, he was 12 and Madball was the fun Agnostic Front spinoff featuring bigger half-brother Roger Miret on bass. In 1989, Freddy yelped "hardcore lives" on debut EP Ball of Destruction. 25 years later, that ad-lib turned into the title for Madball's new album to be released by the band's own Black N Blue Label on June 27. (Preorder.) According to Freddy, it also continues to be a driving inspiration:

I've always felt that 'we as a scene' had to scream just a lil louder... to be heard! That said, Hardcore Lives, at least to us, is not just about a cool 'catchphrase,' it's about that rebellious spirit that doesn't give in... in life, music, whatever. It's about growing, evolving, and maintaining your integrity in the process. It's about family, overcoming adversity, and respect. All the things that matter inside and outside of the music realm. It's for everyone and anyone with an open mind and heart.

The key word is "family." Madball are all about inclusion if you're down to be included. Lyrics are purposefully anthemic and every-man. There are a lot of "brothers," "us," and assurance this is done for "you." The group take on nameless persecutors for you, providing a vicarious outlet to vent your real world obstacles. That's why "Doc Marten Stomp" is relatable. That's why it will mean something to a lot people. It's also why it's a killer summer song.

That's no typo. "Doc Marten Stomp" is set to score many future drives from now until September. Drummer Mike Justian putters with the lumbering rumble of a muscle car. Guitarist Mitts and bassist Hoya Roc temper punk riffs with NYHC's recognizable bounce. Cricien roars and croons with a throat full of grit. Using those elements as a foundation, the song builds towards a catchy crescendo. It's powerful pop as much as it Madball. It's earworm stuff, causing those within earshot to whisper-sing "for the black, for the blue" later on without noticing. It's not the Demonstrating My Style you might expect, but it's still a spirited call to arms; just one in a different key. You'll carry on heeding their order and you won't doubt it because, hey, you're one of them. That's the reason Madball will never die.

A stream of the new song premieres in this post and can be listened to, along with the "DNA" lyric video and Hardcore Lives details, below.

Speaking of Wisdom In Chains, they also open for H2O (whose Toby Morse appears on Hardcore Lives) in NJ on July 29 at Asbury Lanes, along with Ensign, Krust and White Collar Crime. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (5/30) at noon.

Ensign also have other upcoming shows including NJ's Court Tavern on June 7 and NYC's Grand Victory on July 20 (tickets).

Meanwhile, White Collar Crime (the new band of Jake from Rocks Off, not to be confused with the other band of that name), make their NYC debut two days before the H2O show, opening the Subhumans / Casualties show at Le Poisson Rouge (7/27) which Rocks Off is presenting. Mischief Brew are on that bill too and tickets are still available.

The "legendary" Body Count, Ice-T's rap metal group known primarily for upsetting old white men in the early '90s, are releasing a new record. Titled Manslaughter, the LP will hit the streets on June 10 and will surely continue mining the same thought-provoking material as previous treatises like "Evil Dick," a song about Ice-T's evil dick. To ring in the event, Body Count will be playing a record release show in New York City The Gramercy Theatre on June 12. Tickets go on sale Friday (5/16), we promise the NSA isn't tracking your click.) Madball, the legendary NYHC outfit that can rightfully proceed their name with 'legendary,' will open the show, as will Wisdom in Chains. Apologies to most of you for burying the lede: There is a Madball show.

UPDATE (5/15): Tickets are now on Noisey presale (password: MUSICISDOPE).

Body Count's career has been interesting, not so much for their musical contributions (HI, THERE IS A SONG NAMED "EVIL DICK"), but for the controversy they've inspired. "Cop Killer" is their claim to fame, a police protest song that landed the outfit in a heap of trouble, earning condemnations from various police organizations, George Bush and Dan Quayle, the PRMC, and even Charlton Heston, who held the lyrics in his cold dead hands and read them aloud during a Time-Warner shareholders meeting. The track was subsequently pulled from Body Count's '92 eponymous debut, partly in reaction to the LA Riots that exploded following the acquittal of officers involved in the Rodney King beating. Millennials, I'll wait while you Wikipedia all of this.

Granted, the music doesn't hold up and most of the contemporary news blurbs and reviews read like a '90s version of the gas leak year. (For instance, Ice-T was accused of "selling out," which doesn't really read as inflammatory unless you remember when Ice-T was kind of awesome.) But. . .the project has a certain charm in the time capsule sense, along with the reams of oddball bar trivia tied to it. (Black Sabbath - Forbidden: Ice-T appears on the album, Body Count guitarist Ernie C. produced it. Yes, that Black Sabbath.) Not to mention, Ice-T's acting career (if they segue songs with the Law & Order drop, worth every penny) and reality show antics means this one-off show could be, well, kind of fun. At the very least, if you're an owner of the original Body Count CD†that's still bedecked in foot-long cardboard (this was a thing), now might be the time to sell.

Samples of Body Count's work and a couple golden oldies from Ice-T appear below.

Hardcore vets Chain of Strength, who were briefly around from 1988 to 1991, reunited in 2012 for Revolution 25 (pics) at Irving Plaza and a much smaller Brooklyn show at Acheron (pics). They've since played LA in 2013 and it turns out the reunion isn't over yet, as they'll be going on a short Northeast tour in June with Turnstile, Strife, Mindset and Praise which brings them back to Brooklyn's Acheron on June 15. Tickets for that show go on sale via Ticketfly on May 8. All dates are listed below.

This Is Hardcore returns to Philly's Electric Factory from July 24-27 and as usual it's got a great lineup spanning generations of hardcore including Converge, Title Fight, Madball, Blacklisted, Bl'ast, Code Orange Kids, Nails, Noisem, Power Trip, Incendiary, Full of Hell, Crowbar, Coke Bust, Ringworm and many more. Tickets for the festival go on sale April 12 via the festival's website.

Full lineup, with a playlist of all bands playing and the announcement video, below...

NYC crossover thrashers Cro-Mags were just down in Austin for Fun Fun Fun Fest, and now they've got a few more shows coming up, including a couple in their hometown area. The first of those happens in NJ at Asbury Lanes on December 19 with Blind Justice, Heavy Chains, Manipulate, and Stag Party. Then they'll play NYC a couple days later for Diablo Fest at Santos Party House on December 21, which includes local rapper Meyhem Lauren, and many others. Tickets for both of those shows are on sale now.

All currently known dates are listed, along with a video from FFF and the full Diablo Fest lineup, below...

As mentioned, ever-evolving punks Ceremony are set to play this year's This Is Hardcore festival in Philly (they play on 8/10) alongside Kid Dynamite, The Suicide File, Modern Life Is War, Judge, Blacklisted, Tragedy, 7 Seconds, Paint It Black, Code Orange Kids, Nails, Defeater, No Redeeming Social Value, Gwar, and more. Head to TiH's site for tickets. Updated lineup and schedule below.

Around the time of that festival, they'll be doing some other East Coast shows with Baltimore post-punk duo Ed Schrader's Music Beat. Those shows include one in Brooklyn on August 17 at 285 Kent, one in NJ on August 14 at Asbury Lanes, and a little farther out from NYC, they'll also play The El 'n' Gee on August 16 in New London, CT, but it might be worth the drive considering Joyce Manor and Glocca Morra are on that bill too. (It's also a day after Joyce Manor play a free NYC show at House of Vans with Kid Dynamite, Red Hare, and Swearin'). Tickets for the 285 Kent and El 'n' Gee shows go on sale Friday (6/21) at noon, and tickets for the Asbury Lanes show are on sale now.

You can also catch Ed Schrader's Music Beat in NYC even sooner at Death by Audio on June 28 with The Hussy, Barkley's Barnyard Critters (feat. Brian Gibson of Lightning Bolt), and Shark Muffin. Admission for that show is $7 at the door.

Ceremony have a few other coming shows, like one of those free Converse shows in San Francisco, which they'll play on June 27 with Suicidal Tendencies, Rocket from the Crypt, The Bronx, and the Shrine. All dates are listed, along with a few videos, below.

While an album every 21 years is hardly "productive output," I'll nevertheless take it from veteran hardcore crew Antidote who are celebrating their thirty year anniversary with the release of No Peace in Our Time, a new LP. Due on November 13, the 10-song long-player features nine fresh offerings and an appearance from Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) on a cover of the Black Flag classic "Rise Above."

In the meantime, Antidote is preparing to play a few dates and. NYCers can look forward to Antidote at Bowery Electric on Dec 2 with The Mob, Citizens Arrest and Urban Waste. Ticketing info is on the way and tour dates are below.

In keeping with legacies in hardcore, H2O will celebrate the 15th anniversary and re-release of fan favorite Thicker Than Water with a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 27 that has them playing the LP in its entirety. Tickets are on sale, "special guests" are still TBA.

In more modern hardcore news The Morgan (250 Varet St in Brooklyn) in is holding a trio of hardcore shows at its space in the coming weeks. Look fot the space to host Cruel Hand, Suburban Scum, Paper Trail, Zombie Fight, Provider and Blind Justiceon Oct 28, then Trial, Incendiary, Hollow Earth, Rude Awakening, Jukai, and Problems on November 11, and the infamous Skarhead with Wisdom in Chains, Born Low, Living Laser, King Nine and Detrimenton 11/10. Mosh.

All Antidote tour dates and a stream of the classic Thou Shalt Not Kill are below.

Start the beatdown week with the Blood for Blood show at Highline Ballroom on June 30th. Tickets are on sale for that as well, and it also features The Unseen, Wisdom in Chains & Cruel Hand. Blood for Blood will also hit Club Lido in Revere, MA on June 29th.

Murphy's Law's Webster Hall appearance is one of at least two for the NYC band in the near future; they will also board the Half Moon as part of a Rocks Off boat cruise on August 12th. Tickets are on sale for what is basically an annual party on the sea (as long as the cops don't intervene)

A listing of all Agnostic Front dates and a live set from 2004, and more, below.

This is Hardcore returns to Philadelphia, PA for four days in August at Union Transfer (on 8/9) and Electric Factory (8/10 - 8/12). Both shows will have no barricades for you headwalkers/divers and in the case of Electric Factory, the venue will actually construct a stage in front of their usual stage (!) to get around the existing barricade. Now thats dedication/brutality.

As for the lineup, as usual the cast of hooligans gracing the stages of TIHC are a cast of notables, including Cro-Mags, Negative Approach, Gorilla Biscuits, Breakdown, Blacklisted, Killing Time, Nails, Ringworm, Gehenna and many many more. Full lineup is below and tickets go on sale on May 17th at noon.

Power Trip is part of said lineup, and reminder, the band will hit Acheron on May 15th as part of a string of East Coast dates. All tour dates are below.

The Bouncing Souls have announced their 2010 iteration of Home for the Holidays, now in its fourth year and featuring as many nights of shows at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. Tickets are on sale for all four shows: 12/26, 12/27, 12/28, 12/29. Each night will have a different set of support, as 12/26 will get Strike Anywhere, Adrenaline OD, & The Great Explainer, 12/27 gets Fake Problems, Lemuria, & The Swellers, 12/28 gets Leftover Crack, The Menzingers, & Top Soil, and the final night (12/29) gets H20, Yuppicide and Dirty Tactics.

H20, on board for the 12/29 date at The Stone Pony, will also hit Highline Ballroom the next night (12/30) with Trapped Under Ice and Wisdom In Chains. The show is part of a short stint of confirmed dates for H20 (12/27 - 12/30) with more to be announced (12/2 - 12/5). Tickets are on sale to the all-ages, no barricade NYC show. Plus, the band is giving the audience the opportunity to pick the songs for the set from over 60+ choices including covers by Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys and others.

Leftover Crack has a headlining show in NYC too, as the band will play Music Hall of Wiliiamsburg on 12/26. Tickets are on sale. Leftover Crack related project Star Fucking Hipsters will play NYC a month prior, hitting Knitting Factory on 11/28. Tickets for that are also on sale.

The Bouncing Souls played Riot Fest in Chicago (October 6th - 10th) alongside bands like Bad Religion, Cap'n Jazz, Circle Jerks, Off With Their Heads, and Propagandhi. Belated pictures from that show, as well as Bouncing Souls and H20 dates, are below.